BUTTERY PECAN SNOWBALLS

Buttery melt in your mouth shortbread cookies are exactly what I'm needing this season. When I was younger, an older Greek woman, and owner of a Greek restaurant is Davis, used to bring these decadent snowballs by my Noni's house in three big patches every year (and I mean BIG batches). To this day they are one of my favorites, so I have to share these with you.

It's so much easier molding the dough after it's been chilling for the 30 minutes. If you try doing it before they've chilled, you may end up with sticky hands and the dough won't hold once they hit the oven. We want snowballs, not flat cookies here.

Also, I know nuts in general can get expensive, so feel free to experiment with other nuts beside pecans. You can try:

1. Almonds for a lighter nutty flavor, or

2. Peanuts for a stronger nutty flavor, or

3. Walnuts for a more chewy consistently

My favorite part is coating with the powdered sugar. It's like when you're getting ready for a night out and you've done all the necessary things like showered, brushed your teeth, put on deodorant, but the fun part is dressing up. Here is like that part of the night. The snowball girls are mixed, formed, (Netflixed) and chilled, and now it's time to dress them up!

Prep Time: 10 minutes (+30 min. chilling)

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes.

Servings: 45, 1 inch snowball cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Cup unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 2 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 - 1 Cup finely chopped pecans

• More powdered sugar for rolling cookies - about 1/2 cup (or more if you want, I did!)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Set aside.

2. In a stand mixer or using your hand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and slowly add flour and mix until just combined. Fold in chopped pecans. beating at low speed, scraping bowl as necessary, until well mixed.

3. Roll dough into 2 tablespoon sized dough balls. Place on prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Repeat until all the dough is used up. *I recommend chilling the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge so the cookies stay round but you can choose to bake them right away if desired.

4. Set oven at 350°F and place cookies on sheet. Bake for 14 - 15 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown - rotating pans halfway through. Be careful not to over-bake.

5. Remove from oven and cool on baking pan for about 2 minutes until you can handle them comfortably with your hands.

6. Meanwhile, sift 1/2 cup icing sugar into a medium bowl. While cookies are still warm, roll them in icing sugar. Place cookies on cooling rack, once they have cooled completely, roll them in icing sugar again.

7. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month.